6. Testing and Refinement Phase

1. Tri-Axis SensorProblem: Exhibits erratical accelerations on all axis.
Hypothesis: The motor is emitting electromagnetic waves that are interfering with the sensor's operation.Steps Taken:

Created housing for the tri-axis using aluminum sheets

FAILED

Shielded the wires using aluminum sheets

FAILED

Enclosed the motor cavity with alluminum plating

FAILED

Moved the tri-axis further from the motor

FAILED

Shielded the wires using wire insulation stripped from a USB cord

FAILED

Used copper plates to shield tri-axis

FAILED

Placed magnetic needle next to motor when in operation, and had no signs of noise emitting from the motor.

PASS

New Hypothesis: Miniscule vibrations are traveling through the helicopter frame during operation, causing the severe interference with the sensor's operation.

Steps Taken:

Isolated resonance vibration by mitigating the problem using vibration foam around the tri-axis sensor, as well as dense acrylic to absorb excess vibrations (see photos). This subsequently solved the issue.

PASS

Mounting Vibration Isolation Unit: This unit had to be independent from the fram of the helicopter. Any direct contact to the helicopter chasis could potentially nullify all desired effects.

Steps Taken:

Attempted to mount isolation unit using rubber bands to suspend the unit in air

FAIL

Attatched rods to the landing gear to increase height clearence

FAIL

Inverted the tri-axis within the isolation unit

FAIL

Rotated the tri-axis within the isolation unit

FAIL

Attatched two more vibration pads to the isolation unit to make chassi mounting possible

PASS

2. CompassProblem: Too unreliable for use, fluctuates by up to 180 degrees.

Hypothesis: The motor is giving off noise throwing the compass off course.

Solution: Still a work in progress, however, we have ruled out radiation from the motor as being a problem, instead the probable cause is the nature of the sensor, not meant to be used for this purpose.3. MotorProblem: The motor sometimes fails to initate start up sequence and releases "whining" sound.
Hypothesis: Motor is reaching end of life.

Solution: Ordered new motor.

4. LED Base Station During testing and refinement stage, we decided to mount blue LEDs and have them sweep through code in order to simulate a helipad.
Our original design utilized two regular Arduino's, however, our final design boasts one Arduino Mega. Because of this, we had to change the code substantially to accommodate the whole thing on one Mega. Also, Jake Neighbors worked to make a new code without delays to enable the base station to perform other tasks without wasting processor time to delays.
You can see Eric Harmatz's original sweeping LED code below: